India scored three goals in the first half of their game against Puerto Rico at the Mumbai Football Arena on Saturday to register a comprehensive 4-1 victory over the islanders, ranked 114th, 38 places above the hosts in the world rankings.
The home team suffered an early setback as the captain of the visitors' Alexis Rivera switched play over to the left flank and his ball found Elliot Velez, who went around Jackichand Singh before the Indian winger brought him down inside the box. Emanuel Sanchez stepped up to send keeper Gurpreet Sandhu the wrong way and give the visitors an early lead in the eighth minute.
Winger Bikash Jairu was then fouled by Jacob Konde on the edge of the box while trying to exchange passes with forward Jeje Lalpekhlua and India were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Sunil Chhetri then saw his free-kick come off the post and bounce straight to left-back Narayan Das, who made no mistake in slotting it away. India had levelled the scores in the 18th minute.
Chhetri was again in the thick of the action six minutes later when his surging run earned the hosts another free-kick in a dangerous position. This time, he made no mistake in curling the ball towards the far post. The ball took a deflection off the post and went in, giving India the lead.
In the 34th minute, Pritam Kotal's cross from the right found Chhetri, who cushioned the ball through a header for Jeje Lalpekhlua. The Mizoram striker made no mistake in heading it past keeper Johnny Santana.
Eleven minutes into the restart, India were assured of the win when Jeje turned provider, this time crossing it for Eugeneson Lyngdoh whose attempted header at goal found Jackichand at the far post. Having conceded a penalty earlier, the winger slammed the ball off the bar and into the goal from close range to give the Blue Tigers an unassailable 4-1 lead.